When I was in school, my mom was the the editor for the local newspaper. This came in pretty handy when I needed a proofreader for term papers. She always had a keen eye for typos, but she also helped me with sentence structure, organization, and overall flow.
She would go over my work with a fine tooth comb, and with every correction, I would get more and more frustrated with her high standards. It didn't have to be THAT good, did it? Plus, it was past
 my bedtime.

As helpful as she was with my writing, she couldn't help with all of my schoolwork. She couldn't help with algebra. She couldn't help with chemistry. She couldn't even help with French because she speaks fluent Italian instead! There were times I struggled with these subjects, and I could have used a tutor.

At the library we recognize that there will always be students who need a little extra help with their schoolwork. We want to help. Carter Logistics awarded a $2,000 grant to help pay for a subscription to tutor.com. Tutor.com provides students with access to a live tutor who can help with problems in math, science, foreign language, and more. There are additional resources for college students and those who are college-bound. Job seekers can even submit a resume or cover letter for review.

Find tutor.com on the library's website, beginning in January. It can be accessed from any device, at any location, with your Pendleton Community Public Library card. Many resources are available 24/7, but live tutors are available Monday - Friday from 3 - 10 p.m. and Saturday - Sunday from noon - 7:00 p.m.

Lynn Hobbs
PCL Director

A message was received from a local mom to share her Hoopla experience, we wanted to take this opportunity to share it with everyone:

I want to thank my library for introducing me to Hoopla. I had been a user of this service since you began offering it a few years ago to listen to audiobooks while running errands and doing housework. Recently I have discovered the value it has for my kids as well. My daughter was having what I would call a "readers block". She had lost her enthusiasm for reading and it really concerned me. Then we noticed that she wasn't completing her SRC reading quizzes at school as a result. As with many families, we have a very busy schedule. We're always running off to sports, programs, parties, etc. So I began to think about this time we were "wasting" in the car. Since my daughter gets carsick, reading in the car wasn't an option for her, and she was so exhausted by bedtime that she would fall asleep reading. One afternoon she noticed that I was browsing through my Hoopla app trying to select my next book to listen to. This piqued her interest! So we browsed the children's titles together, and WOW there are a lot. She settled on one of the I Survived titles in the popular series. Since we drive to Fishers twice a week for practice, I thought this would be a perfect time to start listening. As we cruised down I-69 listening to I Survived Hurricane Katrina, I noticed that she was very engaged with the book (honestly, so was I). We were able to finish that title in one evening. It also sparked some great conversations between the two of us about my memories of the hurricane. The next time we had to head to Fishers, she asked if we could pick another book. So we settled on I Survived September 11, 2001. Again, she was engaged and we were able to have some great conversations about this historical event. Her next title was a Lemony Snicket book, with an amazing narrator. Another win for us! Since beginning to listen to books, I've noticed her more excited to pick up her books and read too. Now that she's found titles she has liked on audio, it has inspired her to read more in those series.

Another side note that I love about Hoopla is that I can download the titles onto my phone. That way I'm not using up all my data as we drive down the highway. We also download picture books to use as bedtime stories on a recent vacation, so we didn't have to pack numerous books to keep our bedtime routine.
Thank you so much for this service and so many others!
Sincerely,
An Appreciative Mom

Recently, I was downtown Indianapolis for a meeting at the Indiana State Library. It was about two weeks after Bird scooters were introduced to the city. And let me tell you. They were popular! There was at least one on every block, a person riding an electric scooter amidst the throngs of people on the sidewalk. I could tell that some pedestrians were annoyed with the new trend, but I actually thought it was pretty cool.

Bird scooters are motorized scooters that you rent through an app on your phone. Similar to the city’s Blue Indy car rental, they provide a means of transportation for people who don’t need to own their own vehicles, but have an occasional need for wheels. It seems so progressive, so urban. I like it.

So, I was pretty thrilled when I got a call from Rachel Christenson from the Town of Pendleton, asking me if the library would be interested in becoming a location for the town’s new Bike Share. The Bike Share is sponsored by Community Hospitals and allows people to rent bicycles. You could rent one to ride along the trails in the park. Or ride one downtown and browse the local shops, with no worries about finding a parking place. It’s progressive, not urban. I still like it.

Look for the new Bike Share locations at your Pendleton Community Public Library, Falls Park, and behind First Merchants. Coming Soon!

Lynn Hobbs
PCL Director

Recently, some of us took a field trip to the Muncie Public Library's Connection Corner.  It was there that we would have a first-hand look at their Digital Climbers program, an after-school, incentive-based S.T.E.A.M. initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math).  "Climbers" complete challenges and earn points which can be cashed in for prizes.  When they complete a predetermined list of challenges, they advance to earn a new badge. 

We tried a few of these challenges.  My favorite was the Osmo pizza challenge.  With an iPad mounted before me and game pieces laid out on the table in front of me, I successfully served custom-ordered pizzas to an interesting array of colorful characters.  The lion only wants red toppings on his pizza today.  The hippo likes veggies.  And, the blue guy wants pineapple and anchovies?!  As I'm building the pizza with these pieces, the iPad registers my movements, and I interact with the characters up through the payment process where I make change with tiny currency.

Next, we used a Mac to create a song on GarageBand.  Ours started out with some catchy Dixieland horns before the chanting monks finished it out.  It was pretty bad, but somehow I was still proud of it.  After that, we Photoshopped a celebrity pic by giving Robert Downey Jr. a few pimples and a garish tie.  I learned quite a bit that morning, but I was also actually having fun.

And now your Pendleton Community Public Library is one of the official pilot libraries for the program we're calling Mission 595.  With a generous $5,000 educational grant from The Kroger Co., the library was able to purchase a MacBook, iPads, Osmo kits, Snap Circuits, Gravity and Laser Mazes, and more.  Kids aged 7-12 can visit "Mission Control" (aka the children's program room) on Friday, January 5^th any time between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to see what Mission 595 is all about.  

Lynn Hobbs

Growing up in Minneapolis, we had a local department store called Dayton's.  It was like the Macy's of Minneapolis, and in true Macy's form, the holiday festivities at Dayton's spared no expense.  Every holiday season, we would visit the Dayton's display, a life-sized exhibit that rotated its literary theme.  Despite the fact that I was very young when we strolled through the dazzling displays, I still remember many of them, especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where I was terrified by seeing a boy about my age stuck in a big tube.  The displays were always so real, and honestly a little creepy, with mechanically- animated mannequins portraying scenes from books.  Various faces would jerkily turn to look directly at me or lift an unnaturally quick hand to hang a stocking or offer a piece of candy. 

Despite the creepy mannequins, I remember those exhibits fondly.  It was our annual tradition to see the display as a family, and it just enhanced that wide-eyed feeling I had as a child during the holiday season. 

I hope that the library's annual holiday open house is a similar event for kids in Pendleton.  For well over a decade, the library has been hosting holiday festivities where we welcome Santa and Mrs. Claus to the children's department.  This year's open house will be held on December 10^th from 1-3 p.m., and kids can get their faces painted, enjoy holiday treats, and visit with a real live reindeer.  This year, visitors will also be able to enjoy the Friends of the Library's display of gingerbread cottages, all vying to be the contest winner.  I imagine these kids twenty, thirty, forty years from now saying, "We would go to the library every year to see Santa and his reindeer.  Those were such fun times."  And, not at all creepy.